What a funny book, but what a tragic book at the same time. I read this book on the heels of another book, [Father Said: Poems], by the same author because that book spoke to me. This book was even heavier as this was the book with the Jewish mother. You know that character, of course. She's the one who lays on the guilt trips. She's the person who speaks about her death during her entire lifetime. Naturally, she is also the person who is most likely to talk about the following:

Poked-Out Eye

Don't stick your head out of the window,Mother said, while your father is driving.A branch from a tree can poke outyour eye & even if he stops in time,& is able to find it among all the fallen leaves,you can't just put it back into the socket,& expect it to work like it did before.A doctor will have to reconnect the tissues,& if any part is damaged--your fathermight have stepped on it before finding it--it'll never work right & everyonewill know it's defective,because of the way that you squint.

Join the family in this book -- for a laugh, for a bit of nostalgia, or just to absorb some of that Jewish guilt. It's an experience you'll remember. ( )

Wikipedia in English

The loving harping of the Jewish mother provides the background for this collection of Hal Sirowitz poems. His late mother--for whom the old Jewish proverb "God could not be everywhere so he made mothers" may well have been created--had an opinion on almost everything and wasn't bashful in offering them to her son. Such motherly wisdom as "don't stick your finger in the ketchup bottle" and "don't swim in the ocean while it's raining" give the collection punch. Sirowitz also addresses his love life in a number of poems.